I'm not claiming the French model is better than the US one, just that it works better than is said in the English-language press, and that it is overwhelmingly supported in France.
And yes, I'm trying to push back against the US model being imposed on us on every single area of policy. I'm not trying to push the French model on anybody (well, maybe on some topics in Europe, but that's the extent of it) and I'm not making any commentary on the US model of integration, which I think also works, just differently. Why can't you return the courtesy?
Basically, any articl that talks about "Muslims" in France instead of "Arabs" and "Africans" has an agenda and yes I will fight that back.
That does not excuse racism in France, not racist or fearmongering policies, but I think I've been reasonably consistent in writing agaisnt these. So excuse me when I write that ,despite these trends, the French model is not broken and should be defended, in general if not in all its current political specifics. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Whether it's a Burqa or a hooded T-Shirt, those who wear it, tend to say, that they feel "better", shielded from the "hostile" outside world !
The point in France is that the outside world wouldn't be as "hostile" if each individual would participate fully instead of re-creating it's own community (the "civitas" thing). Voting laws or correcting older ones is for the people as a whole! Ok, it's no perfect, but the path seems to us better then to allow a galaxy of villages in a close knitted community.
It's not about religions mostly (even if I agree that I'm not so sure about Sarko's discourse :-) ), it's not either about a clothing style or fashion, it's about not needing any of those "gimmicks" to shield or slow down, integration in the french society... And that works with french kids as well as freshly arrived immigrants.
I do believe that this subject IS a rift in EU. The discussions already takes places in urbanism between the tenants of the "Cluster of villages" and the tenants of the "Polis"... It's insidious as the technical parts seems identical, but the end isn't...! The "greening" of our politics as of our landscapes, brings "ready to use" models from northern europe that won't fit in our southern societies, with the danger then of rejecting everything instead of adapting what's appropriate. "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
